Grass-twine machine.



0. T. WAITE. GRASS TWINE MACHINE. APPLICATION FILED APRA, 1911.

. 1,019,383, v Patented Mar. 5,1912.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

wn'usssz INVENTOR COLUMBIA PLANouRAPH $0.. wAsHlNnTO 0. T. WAITE. GRASS TWINE MAGHINB APPLICATION FILED APRA, 1911.

1,01 9,383. mama Mar. 5, 1912.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

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OSSIAN T. WAITEyOF OSHKOSH,

WISCONSIN, ASSIGNOR TO WAITE GRASS CARPET (30.,

OF OSHKOSH, WISCONSIN, A CORPORATION OF WISCONSIN.

GRASS-TWINE MACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 5, 1912.

Application filed April 4, 1911. Serial No. 618,825.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, OSSIAN T. Burn, a citizen of the United States, residing at Oshkosh, in the county of \Vinnebago and State of Visoonsin, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Grass- Twine Machines, of which the following is a specification.

The mechanism embodied in the presentinvention is employed more particularly in the selecting and feeding of grasses from the holder into position to be acted upon by the,

mechanism for forming it into a twine or cord; tioned mechanisms particularly to embody the subject-matter which are deemed more of the present invention are the mechanism for the ends of such-grasses as are too short to be engaged by the selecting mechanism.

Another object of the invention is to provide means for subjecting the ends of the grasses to a combing operation prior to their deliverance into the feed rolls, whereby the entrance of the grasses into the feed rolls in proper parallel condition is insured.

A further object of the invention is to provide mechanism whereby a proper feed ing of the'grasses can be had without assorting the grasses to determine whether they are of proper length to engage with the feeding mechanism.

A still further object is to arrange the combing mechanism so that it will not interfere with the feeding-operation, and so that the combing operation will take place at a point close enough to the feeding members that the grasses will not lose the condition of parallelism in which they are placed by the combing-operation before their engagement by the feeding members.

The invention further consists in the features of construction and combination of parts hereinafter described and claimed.

and the portions of the above men- In the drawings, Figure 1 is a side view of the mechanism of the present invention and a portion of the grass twine machine to which it is applied; and Fig. 2 is a section on line 2-2 of Fig. 1, looking in the direction of the arrow.

In the art of'making grass twine, it has been found necessary to exercise care in the selection of the grasses which are placed in the holder, so as to eliminate the placing of short lengths of grasses, it having been found that the short lengths would not feed properly to' the binding mechanism ,with the result that a lumpy twine would be produced. In order to form a smooth and even twine, the grasses must be fed to the binding mechanism in a thin, even stream, and to feed in this manner a condition. of parallelism must be maintained in the grasses. Ifthe grasses should become crossed-or matted, it would result in the placing of more grasses in one portion of the twine than in another, hence making an uneven or lumpy formation in the resultant product, which is undesirable. This selecting of the grasses to obtain those of a proper length requires considerable time and care and is the cause of considerable trouble and confusion in manufacture.

One of the points which makes the present invention of value is the fact that, by using the mechanisms of the present invention, the operator need not exercise care in placing the grasses in the holder, since the mechanism will automatically eject such grasses as are too short to come into engagement with the selecting mechanism, and will keep in straight condition such of the grasses as do not have proper support to keep them in 7 straight position while entering the feed rolls. In the feeding of these grasses, if the grass is of a length so that it is not firmly supported in the holder, the end of the grass will he flexible to a greater or less degree, and hence the end of the grass which is carried by the selecting mechanism will not maintain itself-in straight position, but will be liable to become flexed or bent so'as to overlap the grass lying to one side or the other of it. Thus, when these grasses enter the feed rolls in this overlapped condition,

in place of the grass from one tooth being withdrawn at a time from the selector mechanism, grasses from two or three teeth will be withdrawn, and hence a lumpy formation produced in the resultant twine.

' into the mouth 8. The member The mechanisms of the present invention are mounted upon a framework, comprising a table 3 and a support 4:. The particular form of table and support here shown is not a part of the present invention, and it may be changed as desired, or the mechanism may be mounted in any other desirable manner. Secured to the support 4; is an armlike member 5, upon which are mounted vertically extending rods 6 which form a holder 7 for the grasses. The grass within the holder passes out through a mouth or opening 8, best shown in Fig. 2, and in order to crowd the grasses downwardly in the holder, so as to enable them to be brought into said opening, vibrating members 9 and 9 are provided, which, as shown, are located upon opposite sides of said holder.

The member 9 is in the form of a plate 10, which is provided with a series of beveled teeth 11, having the beveled portion 12 upon the lower edge thereof. This plate is vibrated through the medium of a connection 13, actuated by an eccentric 1st driven from a shaft 15. The member is operated to swing inwardly toward the center of the holder; and the sloping faces 12 will exert a pressure upon the grasses, tending to force or pack them downwardly in the holder, thus forc ing them out of the mouth 8. This particular style of packer is shown in my application, Serial No. 550,868, filed March 22, 1910, and is not claimed as a portion of the present invention, but only in combination with the member 9", should it be advisable to employ it. The member 9, however, is deemed by me to be novel, and is claimed as a portion of the present invention.

The member 9 is of an elongated platelike formation, and comprises a body por tion 16 terminating in a flat acting-face 17. The body portion is mounted within a support 18, and has connected thereto a link 19 attached to a walking-beam lever 20, actuated by a rod 21, the walking beam being supported by a fixed bar 22. The rod 21 is actuated from the eccentric 14. In the construction shown, the members 9 and 9 are operated alternately, the member 9 first swinging inwardly and packing the grasses down in the holder, after which the member 9 acts to crowd the grasses more forcibly 9 acts upon the entire mass of grass, whereas the member 9 acts only upon those grasses which are adjacent to the bottom of the holder. The member 9 being mounted within guideways, moves with a vibrating rectilinear movement. It does not enter into the mass of grasses, but rather engages the outer portion of the mass and presses the entire mass into the mouth 8.

A plate 23, having a beveled edge 24,which constitutes one wall of the mouth 8, is provided with a curved face 25, adjacent to which operates the edge of a disk 26, provided with a series of notches 27. This is what may be termed the selector 'disk. This disk, as well as the plate 2st, is shown in my former patent heretofore referred to, and is not claimed as a portion of the present invention. The disk 26 revolves, and the teeth 27 pick out a selected number of the blades of grasses, which may be projecting beyond the lower edge of the mouth 8, and carry them downward into engagement with the feed rolls 28, which,in the form shown, are provided with opposed concave and convex surfaces. These feed rolls are also shown in my application heretofore referred to and are not claimed as a part of the present in vention.

One of the feed rolls in the form shown is provided with a surface 29, upon which is mounted a series of spikes or teeth 30, which form a comb for disentangling any matting or massing of grasses which may occur prior to the entrance of the grasses into the feed rolls. The selecting disk 26operates to flex the ends of the grasses so as to carry them out of the holder and down into position to be engaged by the feed rolls, the action of the feed rolls completing the removal of the grasses from the holder. It sometimes happens that the grasses, because of their short length, are not firmly supported in the body of the holder, so that while they are being carried by the selecting disk, owing to the lack of support, their ends may flex or bend so as to overlap and lie upon the grass or grasses in the next adjacent tooth of the selecting disk. If they are allowed to enter the feed rolls in this condition, only the grass in that particular tooth being drawn out and fed forward, the grasses lying within both of the teeth, that is, the overlapping grass and the straight grass, will be fed forward simultaneously, thus feeding a greater mass of grass than is intended, and so producing a bunching in the twine.

As will be seen more clearly in Fig. 2, the teeth 30 are lying so that during their revolution they intersect the path of travel described by the ends of the grasses while they are being carried by the selecting disk, so that as the ends of the grasses are carried downward by the selecting disk they are subjected to a combing action by having these spikes or teeth pass through them. If they are in an overlapped and tangled condition, they will be straightened out by these toothed members and will enter the bite of the feed rolls in a straight and parallel condition, so that the feed rolls will grasp the load of each tooth separately and the grasses will be fed through the feed rolls in a continuous, even stream, which will produce an even and smooth cord. It will be noticed that the grasses are subjected tothis combmg action ust prior to their entrance into in place of the feed rolls, so that they will not have time to resume their previously tangled condition after being once subjected to the combing operation; but will enter the feed rolls in the straight and parallel condition in which theyhave been placed by the action of the teeth 30. By the use of this combing member, grasses which are long enough to engage with the selecting mechanism, but which may not be long enough to have a firm support in the holder, can be maintained in parallel arrangement as so to properly enter into the bite of the feed rolls, thus eliminating the necessity for separating these short lengths of grasses prior to the operation of making the twine.

It will be noted that the member 9 is acting in a line which is tangential to the disk 26, so that the movement of this member tends to crowd the grasses directly into the teeth of the disk, thus insuring each tooth receiving its full load of grass each time it passes by the lower end of the mouth 8.

Secured to the framework is a shaft 31., power-driven by suitable means, which operates an eccentric 32, provided with a depending rod 33 which passes through a guide member 34; and the eccentric has secured thereto and extending upwardly therefrom a rod 35, which enters into a block 36 from which projects a rod 37 having a bent end 38, shown in dotted lines in Fig. 2, which end, as shown in Fig. 1, lies adjacent to the lower portion of the holder and somewhat removed from the forward end thereof. Both the rod 37 and the rod 35 are adjustable within the block 36, and are held in adjusted position by suitable setscrews 39. This block shows one means for effecting the adjustment of the rod 37 so as to move its hooked end into any desired position within the holder. The function of this hooked end 38 is to pull out from the holder the ends of any grasses which are too short to reach to the selecting disk. Difliculty has been experienced with these extremely short grasses, in that they accumulate and choke the mouth leading from the holder to the selecting disk, and frequently it is necessary to stop the machine in order to remove them. By the utilization of this hooked rod, these grasses are jerked away from the mouth and are flexed or bent so as to have their ends lie below the holder, and the operator can easily grasp them and pull them out from the holder without any cessation in the operation of the machine.

By the utilization of a rod such as the rod 33, which extends within the guide member 34, a fourway motion is imparted to the hooked end 38 by the operation of the eccentric, so that said hooked end moves up, then inward into the mass of grass, then downward, and then out again through said mass, with what may be termed a raking operation, and pulling the short ends, which are not held by the selector, out from the mass into position where from the holder.

I claim:

1. In a grass twine machine, the combination of a holder for grasses, mechanism for feeding the grasses longitudinally of themselves, selecting mechanism for carrying the ends of the grasses out of the hopper into position to be engaged by the feeding mech anism, and means for ends of the grasses carried by the selecting mechanism, whereby they separately enter the feeding mechanism, substantially as described.

2. In a grass twine machine, the combination of a holder for the grasses, a selecting mechanism for flexing the ends of the grasses to carry said ends out from the mass of grasses within the holder, mechanism for feeding the grasses longitudinally of themselves, and means for subjecting the ends of the grasses to a combing action during the flexing operation, whereby they enter the feeding mechanism in parallel arrangement, substantially as described.

3. In a grass twine machine, the combination of a holder for grasses, means for feeding the grasses longitudinally of themselves,

they may be removed selecting mechanism for carrying the ends of the grasses out of the hopper and into position to be engaged by the feeding mechanism, and mechanism operatively connected to the feeding mechanism for straightening out the ends of the grasses carried by the selecting mechanism, causing them to separately enter the feeding mechanism, substantially as described.

l. In a grass twine machine, the combination of a holder for grasses, mechanism for feeding the grasses longitudinally of themselves, select-ing mechanism for conveying the ends of the grasses from the holder into position to enter the feeding mechanism, and a member carried by the feeding mechanism for straightening out the ends of the grasses carried by the combing mech anism, whereby they separately enter the feeding mechanism, substantially as described.

5. In a grass twine machine, the combination of feed rolls for feeding the grasses forward, a portion of the surfaces of at least one of said rolls being provided with teeth adapted to engage the grasses prior to their entrance into the feed rolls, whereby they are subject-ed to a combing action prior to the feeding operation and enter the feed rolls in parallel arrangement, substantially as described.

6. In a grass twine machine, the combination of a holder for grasses, mechanism for feeding the grasses longitudinally of themselves, selecting mechanism for conveystraightening out the ing the ends of the grasses out of said holder and into position to be engaged by the feeding mechanism, and an endless member provided with a toothed surface adapted to engage the ends of the grasses carried by the selecting mechanism and straighten them out, whereby the grasses separately enter the feeding mechanism, substantially as described.

7. In a grass twine machine, the combination of agrass holder, mechanism for feeding the grasses longitudinally of themselves, selecting mechanism for conveying the ends of the grasses out from the holder into p0s1- tion to engage with the feeding mechanism, and means located intermediate the feeding mechanism and the selecting mechanism, said means operating to straighten out the ends of the grasses carried by the selecting mechanism, whereby they separately enter the feeding mechanism, substantially as described.

8. In a grass twine machine, the combination of a holder for grasses having a throated outlet, a rectilinearly moving vibrating member lying out of alinement with said opening for pressing said grasses downward in the holder and into said outlet, and means operatively connected for operating said member, substantially as described.

9. Ina grass twine machine, the combination of a holder for the grasses, a rectilinearly-moving oscillating member for pressing said grasses downward in the holder, means operatively connected for operating said member, a vibrating cam-faced member opposed to said Oscillating member, and mechanism operatively connected for forcing said cam-faced member into and out of the mass of grasses, substantially as described.

10. In a grass twine machine, the combination of a holder for the grasses, a flatfaced plunger-like member for pressing said grasses downward in the holder, means operatively connected for actuating said memher with an oscillating rectilinear movement, a vibrating cam-faced member opposed to said oscillating member, and mechanism operatively connected for forcing said cam-faced member into and out of the mass of grasses, substantially as described.

1.1. In a grass twine machine, the combination of a holder for the grasses having a throated outlet, a rectilinearly-moving os cillating member for pressing said grasses downward in the holder and into said outlet, said member extending obliquely' to the grasses within the holder and to said outlet, and means operatively connected for actuating said member, substantially as described.

12. In a grass twine machine, the combi nation of a holder for grasses having a throated outlet, means for conveying the ends of the grasses out of said outlet, a rectilinearly-moving oscillating member for pressing said grasses downward in the holder and into said outlet, said member operating. in a line oblique to said outlet and approximately parallel to the initiatory line of movement of the grasses out of the holder, and means operatively connected for actuating said member, substantially as described.

13. In a grass twine machine, the combination of a holder for the grasses, a rectilinearly-moving oscillating member for pressing said grasses downward in the holder, means operatively connected for actuating said member, a vibrating cam-faced member opposed to said vibrating member, and mechanism operatively connected for forcing said cam-faced member into and out of the mass of grasses, substantially as described.

lat. In a grass twine machine, the combi nation of a holder for the grasses having a throated outlet, a plate-like member terminating in a fiat-face lying obliquely to said outlet, and adapted to engage the grasses and press them downward in the holder and into said outlet, a guide for said presser member, and mechanism operatively connected for actuating said member with a rectilinearly vibrating movement, substantially described.

15. In a grass twine machine, the combination of a holder for the grasses, a platelike member terminating in a flat-face, adapted to engage the grasses and press them downward in the' holder, a guide for said member, mechanism operatively con nected for actuating said member with a rectilinearly oscillating movement, a vibrat ing cam-faced member opposed to Said oscillating member, and mechanism operatively connected for forcing said cam-faced member into and out of the mass of grasses, sub stantially as described.

16. In a grass twine machine, the combination of a holder for grasses, a selecting mechanism for moving the ends of said grasses out of said holder, a vibrating member located between the end of the holder and the selecting mechanism and having an acting end adapted to enter the mass of grasses lying between the holder and the selecting mechanism to pull out those grasses too short to be engaged by the selecting mechanism, and means operatively connected for actuating said member, substan tially as described.

17. In a grass twine machine, the combination of a holder for grasses, a selecting mechanism for moving the ends of said grasses out of said holder, a vibrating hooked end member located between the end of the holder and the selecting mechanism and having an acting. end'adapted to enter the mass of grasses lying between the holder and the selecting mechanism to pull out those grasses too short to be engaged by the selecting mechanism, and means operatively connected for actuating said member, substantially as described.

18. In a grass twine machine, the combination of a holder for grasses, a selecting mechanism for moving the ends of said grasses out of said holder, a vibrating hooked end member located between the end of the holder and the selecting mechanism for adjusting the position of the hooked end member, substantially as described.

OSSIAN T. \VAITE. \Vitnesses:

W'M. DAMON, D. L. Ronnmon.

Copies the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. G. 

